All posts in Education

Chemistry is all about transitions. Starting in November, a new CHF blog will amplify, expand, and build upon on the many types of content we already generate, from public programs, podcasts, Chemical Heritage magazine, scholarly publication, and our burgeoning web presence.

First Person mainly deals with the subjects of oral histories at CHF, but I thought it might be an interesting change of pace to take you behind the scenes of the oral history process. Today I’ll be highlighting the people and processes that make those oral histories possible.

Suppose when you were a small child you believed that the sun revolves around the earth. This wouldn’t be surprising since nothing in your experience would refute the idea. Then one day you go to school and your teacher informs you that the opposite is true—the earth revolves around the sun—and this has been fully accepted by all leading thinkers for nearly five centuries. Would the new information replace your old view, or merely suppress it?

Our vital fluids are more than just bodily emissions—they can also be considered the purest expressions of our humanity, at least metaphorically speaking. In a three-part podcast and video series, the Distillations team checks out some of their lesser-known properties.

In June I attended the “The Age of Plastic,” a Smithsonian symposium which drew historians, conservators, artists, and industrial scientists all eager to discuss the implications of humanity’s growing reliance on synthetic materials.

Exhibit installation is one of the most rewarding parts of the exhibition planning and creation process. You start with a blank canvas and design plans and watch it all move into place and unfold into something beautiful, something beyond what you could have imagined. I’ve often thought that a time-lapse video of an installation would be fun, but some snapshots from the week will have to do.

Why does scholarly purpose matter? Because without it, knowledge would cease to expand. If there were no original research, there would be nothing new to teach, just reworking of the same ledger of human accomplishment over and over again.